inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #101 of 119: Celia Chapman (lark) Fri 6 Jun 14 14:30
    
Many many thanks Lauren.  I did get a copy of the book last night and
am looking forward to working with it.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #102 of 119: Elaine Sweeney (sweeney) Fri 6 Jun 14 14:41
    
Great discussion!
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #103 of 119: (katecat) Fri 6 Jun 14 14:53
    
yes thank you so much -- I've bought your book and am getting a great deal
out of it, not all related to clutter.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #104 of 119: descend into a fractal hell of meta-truthiness (jmcarlin) Fri 6 Jun 14 16:26
    

Thanks Lauren. I've started working through my "junk" and there's
less of it now than before.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #105 of 119: Renshin Bunce (renshin) Fri 6 Jun 14 18:15
    
Lauren, I've been reading, not participating, but you've given me a
lot to think about.  I'm giving some stuff the cold eye, looking
forward to doing another purge.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #106 of 119: It's all done with mirrors... (kafclown) Sat 7 Jun 14 06:59
    
Yes, Thank you!  Although really I want to take this conversation and put 
it in a little box and keep it FOREVER.

Is that wrong?  :O)
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #107 of 119: Mark McDonough (mcdee) Sat 7 Jun 14 09:35
    
Really great book, and a great conversation.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #108 of 119: paralyzed by a question like that (debunix) Sat 7 Jun 14 17:37
    
I'm coming in at the tail end of this conversation, because life has
been too cluttered to read the book along with the discussion.  

Just wanted to mention how timely this is:  the New England Journal of
Medicine  May 22nd issue has a review article about Hoarding Disorder,
which is one of the new psychiatric diagnoses included in the DSM-5,
and the discussion here seems spot on to help those of us with hoarding
tendencies from sliding down that slippery slope to the disorder.  

It's definitely more about us than our stuff.  
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #109 of 119: Renshin Bunce (renshin) Sat 7 Jun 14 19:09
    
Lauren, that reminds me -- one of my patients' son is a hoarder.  His
behavior just gets worse and worse, yelling and screaming in public and
so on.  He's in his 50's.  She supports him, he has a nice (well it
was nice) apartment and food and money on a credit card and a
psychiatrist and nothing seems to help.  I've read that hoarding is one
of the hardest of syndromes to treat.  Do you have any advice?
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #110 of 119: Lauren Rosenfeld (lgosenfeld) Sun 8 Jun 14 09:47
    
Dear Renshin,

I wish I could help give some insight into your son's friends'
disorder. Unfortunately, I am not a psychiatrist -- and as noted above
-- true hoarding is classified as a psychiatric illness, so it's an
obsessive compulsive disorder that is different than simply cluttering.
However, it may be helpful for your friend to read Breathing Room, in
that it might give her some insight into how our consuming emotions
cause us to hang on to objects and even trash -- which is true for both
hoarders and clutterers. Holding both your friend and her son in my
heart. 
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #111 of 119: Lauren Rosenfeld (lgosenfeld) Sun 8 Jun 14 09:55
    
I want to say "thank you" in return to everyone who has read and
participated in this discussion. It's been extremely lively and
engaging. You've asked some great questions and offered me wonderful
stories and insights and humor that have touched my heart and tickled
my funny bone. I feel very privileged to have been invited here. It's a
very special community.

Thank you to those of you who have purchased and read the book. And
also to those who are recommending it to friends. The more decluttered
we are in both home and heart, the world becomes that much more
compassionate, happy, and free. 

If you are interested in continuing on with this topic, you can join
me at http://facebook.com/getbreathingroom or you can go to my website
and sign up for the newsletter (where you'll receive a complimentary
e-book entitled "Ten Simple Soul Decluttering Tips") by going to:
http://lgrosenfeld.com/free-stuff/free-e-books/

Wishing everyone peace, strength, and joy on your decluttering
journey.

Warmly,

Lauren 
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #112 of 119: Renshin Bunce (renshin) Sun 8 Jun 14 18:09
    
Thanks again, Lauren. 
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #113 of 119: It's all done with mirrors... (kafclown) Wed 18 Jun 14 11:35
    
I just tossed out the following: (after some sad deliberations)

about 1500 flea circus cards (I had 3000, which was a giant heavy box of 
itself)

about 1000 clown cards and envelopes (they had the wrong address on them-- 
beautifully printed artwork by <bratwood> but I kept another 400 or so 
which I can change the address on-- but realistically I wasn't going to 
use all those cards.

about 500 flea circus bumperstickers-- I printed them 15 years ago, and 
still haven't gone through my stock.  I kept half, they are still good, 
but if I need more I'll print them

I whittle down 5 boxes down to 2-- which seems fair.

I still have boxes and boxes of stuff to go through however.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #114 of 119: Jennifer Powell (jnfr) Wed 18 Jun 14 17:34
    
Good work.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #115 of 119: Celia Chapman (lark) Fri 20 Jun 14 17:37
    
Good job!  
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #116 of 119: It's all done with mirrors... (kafclown) Sat 28 Jun 14 19:59
    
Last week-- I started going through the boxes of books in the garage-- 
they are in surprisingly good shape, considering they've been there for 8 
years.

I have 65 boxes of books-- I'd like to have around 12 when I am done.

There are many books it's easy to say no to, but many of them I remember 
buying, I searched for them, or they are part of a collection that I 
completed (all the Nero Wolfe's, all the Ian Flemin bond's, etc)

Keeping circus and theater arts books, 

I've been through 23 boxes so far, and I'm getting rid of 18.  Not a bad 
ratio, really.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #117 of 119: Mark McDonough (mcdee) Sat 28 Jun 14 20:40
    
I decide years ago to concentrate on a few areas of real and lasting
interest to me, some very broad (WW II) and some very narrow (water and
ecology in the American West). I also have boxes of books acquired
before I reached that decision. Good for you! I should grab a box or
two and start sifting.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #118 of 119: J. Eric Townsend (jet) Sat 28 Jun 14 20:53
    
We did this as well -- looking at half.com we discovered many of our
books were worth USD $1 at most.  Those went to recycling, and many
others went to donation.

At the same time we discovered that some of our "cheap paperback
trash" was worth serious $$$ as it had never been reprinted.
  
inkwell.vue.477 : Lauren Rosenfeld, "Breathing Room"
permalink #119 of 119: It's all done with mirrors... (kafclown) Sun 29 Jun 14 16:41
    
Yeah-- I just don't know what's valuable, and don't have the time or the 
bandwidth to sift through 50+ books a box to see if something is still 
around.

I'm not even keeping most of the plays (over 700 as I recall)  some are 
sure to be valuable, but I am not going to have the space for them.  I'm 
sad, but I'm going to move on. 

I've got tons of art books also, going to keep a few, but for the most 
part, I'll either find a buyer to buy all the books, or I'll donate them 
and claim large amounts on my tax returns.  Many of these books at a 
bookstore at half list price would still be $20-$25.  (I bought them at 
40% or more off)
  



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